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Interview with Brother Timothy 1967 - 1981

Interview with Brother Timothy 1967 - 1981

  • ZA ZAR STDS 202000726
  • Item
  • 2010

Interview: Timothy McCrindle (Br Timothy) 1967-1981
Br Timothy taught at St David’s for 6 months in 1963 and returned again in 1967. Initially he was junior
housemaster and in 1972 assistant senior housemaster when the boarding closed down because of the lack of
brothers to supervise.
Br Timothy taught Biology to std 8-10 and RE to std 8-10 and also taught Maths and Science. For extra-murals
he coached swimming and worked with Lee McGregor the Springbok swimmer; he was also the athletics
coach and Inanda won the Inter Catholic athletics for 6 years running. In addition he was the rugby coach for
the younger boys.
Br Timothy took over in 1975 from Br Anthony as headmaster. He maintains he was never an innovator but
highlights during his term of office were the building of the swimming pool, tennis courts and the development
of the sports fields. He also focused on academics and in 1981 Michael Urban was the first boy to achieve a
full house of distinctions in matric.
The one aspect of extra murals which he did not enjoy was cadets. He attended a cadet officer’s camp and in
the end Br Anthony asked him to take the cadets over. Mrs Moni was very pro-active and helped a great deal
as her sons were very prominent cadets. When he took over as head, Br Timothy decided to stop cadets at St
David’s.
Some of the staff he fondly remembers are Trudy Elliott, a wonderful English teacher who had an excellent
way of teaching boys. Gavin Nefdt, Tom McFadden, Ken Lipshitz, Bill Carew, Wendy Schaafsma, Father
Plesters and George Manolios was the prep headmaster.
Reflecting on Br Anthony, Br Timothy felt that Br Anthony had a wonderful gift of inspiring confidence in young
people and was very good at handling difficult situations and parents. He had a wonderful way with people and
was the person who built St David’s up. Br Anthony was never overbearing and worked very well with young
brothers guiding them and giving them responsibilities. He always checked up to see how they were
progressing. Br Anthony was not a very orderly person but here Br Andrew, deputy headmaster, helped him.
During his time, Br Anthony introduced the advisory council which later became the board of governors
St David’s first headmaster was Br Urban, followed by Br Edwin, Br Benedict, Br Anthony and finally Br
Timothy. Br Andrew and Br Bosco (Mario) were prominent brothers.
Notable parents who went the extra mile were: Mrs Moni, the Kourie family, Nassie Simaan, Steve Muller, Vito
Rugani, Darko Vidas, the Allem family, the Reeves family, Slavens, v d Handel, Paizes, Marlowe and Marsay.
The sale of the Inanda’s land:
Br Michael was Br Superior at the time and was very friendly with the McGill Love’s who owned the land next
to the school. There was a fire which the boarders helped to put out and following that, the McGill Love’s had
an agreement with the brothers that they would have first option on the property when they decided to sell their
home. When the sale went through there was an agreement that should Mr McGill Love die first his wife could
continue to live in Maryknoll until her death. Mr McGill Love died first and his wife stayed on in the house but
eventually the brothers offered to pay for her to move into a retirement home and the property reverted to the
brothers. For the acquisition of the property an amount of R150 000 was required. The parents decided, under
the PTA Chairmanship of Mr Walker that they would pay the extra R150 000 needed in the form of a levy
however, in 1971, the Sandton council needed to widen Rivonia Road and the school was reimbursed (R50
000) for the land that was required which covered the shortfall on the land.
The brothers later decided to sell off a piece of ground because they felt that the school would not ever need
the land and they were in a tough situation financially. The land belonged to the brothers not the school. Mr
Tim Marneweck, a parent, who was involved in property helped with the sale of the land. Sadly the parents
and old boys were angry because they felt that the money should have come to the school.
(See Br Jude’s Interview and Finance Weeks articles – October 14-20, 1982 p.100; 30 October 30, 1982 p.4
and August 22 – 28, 1985 p.509)
The school reputedly had two ghosts. Peter Stringer, the cricket coach was given accommodation upstairs at
Maryknoll once Mrs McGill Love had left. He maintains that he saw the ghost of Mrs McGill Love at the foot of
the staircase. The second ghost was that of Br Pius who is said to have wandered around the house where
the sickbay was situated. The brothers used to live in this house but once the administration block was built
the brothers moved in there. If there were any boarders who had to stay overnight in the sickbay then one of
the brothers would have to go down and stay in the house. One of the brothers was in the house one night and
heard a strange noise and went from room to room looking to find the source of the noise. He eventually found
a coat hanger moving in a cupboard! But the brothers always maintained that it was Br Pius walking around.
Br Timothy felt that Br Andrew was a very strict disciplinarian and an excellent Maths teacher who got on well
with Willy Castle. Willy came back to complete his matric and fitted in very well with his new class while most
other boys didn’t mix with the class below them. Br Pius was an excellent gardener and because of him the
gardens at school were well laid out. Br Aquinas enjoyed his whiskey and every Sunday evening the brothers
used to get together and would have a drink. Br Aquinas always had a whiskey and one evening he was called
away and left his drink. The other brothers replaced his drink with diluted Coca Cola while hiding the whiskey
behind the chair. They watched as Br Aquinas returned and continued to drink the diluted Coca Cola without
noticing the change. The brothers were too ashamed to say anything and never told Br Aquinas about the
incident.
Br Timothy left St David’s at the end of 1981 after many happy years at the school. He was appointed
headmaster at St Owens on the Cape Flats. This school was a far cry from St David’s and he taught std 8 –
10’s.
He later went on to help Br Anthony at Slough for a while, becoming Brother Provincial in 1989 until December

  1. He was then sent to the United States on a course and it was here that he met his future wife. After
    much soul searching he decided to leave the Marist Brothers and his future wife left her order as well. Timothy
    now works for the Catholic Schools Office who look after the affairs of the 10 schools run by the diocese in
    Gauteng.
    November 2010

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Terry van Heerden 1972

  • ZA ZAR STDS 202000946
  • Item
  • 2013

Interview with Terry van Heerden – 1972
Terry started at St David’s as a boarder in standard 5 in 1967. On his first day he remembers his
mother crying, lots of other mothers crying, some boys crying, his father helped him carry his trunk
up to the dormitory, rows and rows of beds with military corners, emptying his trunk into his locker,
everything new and labeled with his name. Thomas Manko, whose locker was next to his, men
wearing dresses, big scary boys telling him what to do and where to go, dinner in the hall, loneliness,
homesick already.
The day boys didn’t get to play as much sport, and have endless opportunities to create mischief as
boarders, not that all the boarders considered that a con. In every other respect Terry would have
preferred to have been a day boy and live with his family, date girls, go to parties, wear cool clothing,
listen to music and so on. Terry also felt that boarding did not prepare you for a normal life and in his
first year at university he likened himself to an untrained dog that had been let off its leash. He
knows that the same thing happened to most of the boarders.
Terry most enjoyed the sport, comraderie, the “Boys Own sort of life” that they led and, in an odd
sort of way, the routine of the life. He also enjoyed learning. The habit has stayed with him all his life
and he owes it to the teaching he received at St David’s.
Terry doesn’t have memories of his last day but he is sure that he would have had mixed feelings;
relief that it was all over, excitement about the future, sadness to be leaving what had become, with
all its warts, home.
However he didn’t enjoy the hours of boredom (especially on visiting weekends when most of his
mates went home and he and other boys whose parents lived so far away were stuck at school with
no one to play with), the constant hunger and being homesick.
He has good memories of every rugby game that he ever played. Rugby was a big thing in his life
and Nassey Simaan had a lot to do with that. He lit the fire. Their loss to KES in 1972 still rankles to
this day. It was the only blemish on the “72 team’s record. Heplayed a lot of sport. Terry was in the
school’s swimming and athletics teams and held many records in both disciplines. And he was
captain of the 1972 1st XV rugby team which was the most successful team the school had had up
to that point. Lawrence Saad and Terry were the only two St David’s boys to have been invited to the
Transvaals schools rugby trials. Terry made it to the final 30 but on Br Anthony’s advice to his
parents he withdrew to concentrate on his studies. He later played a few games for the Western
Province U20 team.
Of the teachers, Brother Timothy was an influence. Like Mr Simaan, he had a passion for rugby and
it rubbed off onto him. He also taught him biology and that’s what he went on to study at university.
Another brother, whose name he won’t mention, brought some sanity into our boarding school lives
by supplying us with the occasional beer and cigarette.
Hunger was always with the boarders, and there was this story about earlier generations of
boarders raiding the kitchen at night. They didn’t know exactly how they did it, but they figured it
must have been by climbing out a dormitory window and crossing the roof, which is what they did,
him and Nichas and a couple of others whose names he’s forgotten. They never got caught. It was a
lot of fun. And while everyone else was losing weight, they started putting it on.
His closest mates were among the boarders: Harry Curtis (who, like him, was a Zambian), and
George Nichas and James Cronin (his equals, if not betters, when it came to getting up to no good).
But through sport and being the school’s vice-head prefect he got to know just about everyone.
Among the day boys he was close to Colin Rezek whose family graciously took him into their home
at weekends. Regrettably, he doesn’t keep in regular touch with anyone.
After matriculating, Terry studied for a BSc at UCT then gained a post graduate diploma from Wits
and an MBA from UCT. He is currently the managing director and major shareholder of a group of
companies in Australia – Salima |Holdings Pty Ltd..
Terry last visited St David’s in 1992 for a 20 years reunion.
JLE July 2013

Egenrieder, Julie